Must beg to differ. A properly soldered connection (no acid core solder, correct temp iron, proper tin/lead mix, etc) with propper strain relief (so the solder joint will not be subjected to mechanical loads) will provide the best electrical connection.... minimum impedance, corrosion resistance, reliability, etc. Soldering a car's wiring harness is not practical, economically feasible or even desirable (due to service issues). Can you imagine how long it would take to unsolder a headlight bulb to change it, LOL. That does not mean for retro-fitting work or special add-ons that soldering is inferior to crimping. Wire wrapping can provide some advantages, in some environments, but not automotive.

btw this is how i know about this stuff: we buy the connectors direct from the manufacturer, 52,000 pcs at a time and mass produce the harnesses for the products we sell...

When we do failure analysis, guess what we see... bad crimps... we also do a couple of small run pieces where the connections get hand crimped and then soldered... guess how many of these i have seen fail... zero.

problem is that soldering takes way too long... the crimp machine does 3000/hr wheras a guy with a hand crimper and soldering can do 350/hr.

If you are going to tell people to crimp because its better then you should qualify that by letting them know that they need a proper crimper... Because if they go and get the $10 crimper from home depot you are doing them a disservice...

I am not going to argue the soldering point, but I am also never going to solder a wire connection on my airplane with the main reason for this being that type of repair is not FAA approved and would ground my plane. Also I do NOT recommend nor will I ever recommend someone buy one of those cheap $10 nutcracker type crimpers as you say I recommend. The tool I use and recommend is the ratcheting kind as shown in my posted links above. I have never had a crimped connection fail using this type of crimping tool, but as you have stated with your experiences YMMV.

Crimped wires break next to the crimp where they were squeezed on smaller sized wires. I've had this happen several times in my old cars. I can see crimping on 10 -12 gauge and larger wiring as not being a problem, but for the smaller stuff soldiering and heat shrinking is by far superior. If I'm using a form of connector I lightly crimp the spade or bullet connector to the wire and then finish them off by soldiering them as well.

Crimped wires break next to the crimp where they were squeezed on smaller sized wires. I've had this happen several times in my old cars. I can see crimping on 10 -12 gauge and larger wiring as not being a problem, but for the smaller stuff soldiering and heat shrinking is by far superior. If I'm using a form of connector I lightly crimp the spade or bullet connector to the wire and then finish them off by soldiering them as well.

If your wires are breaking at the crimp, the connectors are not of a good quality or not the correct size for the wire. A good quality connector supports the wire by the insulation on the wire that is next to the exposed wire/crimp. I currently own a 63 year old airplane with crimped connectors from the factory and have not had any wiring failures at the crimps. I have, however had wiring failures when the cloth insulation on the original wiring cracked and the wire underneath failed from work hardening due to vibration.

... but I am also never going to solder a wire connection on my airplane with the main reason for this being that type of repair is not FAA approved and would ground my plane.

I dont think thats correct... if you look at FCC STD-019D it specifically states that soldering can be used except in the ground and lightning supression systems (which would make sense since a lightning strike would vaporize the solder). Other than that there are even some parts of the spec where soldering is recommended (like for high frequency/shield connections).

There are some stipulations like that the connection you solder to should have mechanical support for the wire (e.g. the solder does not provide the mechanical support) but otherwise its showing to be ok...

I dont think thats correct... if you look at FCC STD-019D it specifically states that soldering can be used except in the ground and lightning supression systems (which would make sense since a lightning strike would vaporize the solder). Other than that there are even some parts of the spec where soldering is recommended (like for high frequency/shield connections).

There are some stipulations like that the connection you solder to should have mechanical support for the wire (e.g. the solder does not provide the mechanical support) but otherwise its showing to be ok...

Yes, antenna cable connectors and such are soldered, but if a standard wire is damaged and spliced both of the A&P mechanics I use have always used approved connectors. Neither has ever had a soldering iron in sight and only a connector kit with a ratcheting crimp tool. I actually mentioned using solder once and he said it was not approved. Unfortunately, my mechanic has to sign off the maintenance logs when any work is done on the plane so without his signature, the work would be deemed not approved.

i am getting ready to do my resistor pack change but everywhere i look they are out of resistors. which wires do i hook up to each other to just have one speed for right now until i get some resistors. thanks for your assistance

i am getting ready to do my resistor pack change but everywhere i look they are out of resistors. which wires do i hook up to each other to just have one speed for right now until i get some resistors. thanks for your assistance

take a look at the diagram near the beginning> black to black and red to orange... just make sure to extend both wires from the motor so tha they are at least 18"... that way you can make all the connetions between the motor wires and the 4 pin connector and resistors at the top next to the fuse box where it is easilyaccessible in the future...

Getting ready to do this job - thanks for all the effort everybody has done on this issue. Any word on where we can get all three resistors?

Thanks

Ash

No help here so also looking for this answer. I searched the major electronic players (mouser, digikey, newark, allied and at least two others) only to find one of them, out of stock, or minimal purchase 100 units. Was looking for some place to order all three and was surprised. Nada

Not like the years past when I would just drop into dow or hamilton electronics and they would have everything. That was back in the 80's.

Where is the connection to evac the A/C? I'm planning on doing mine this weekend and would prefer to have it evac'd before pulling off the clam.

Why do you need to evac the a/c system when doing this job? I am planning on doing this job soon and plan to bypass the resistor pack and have full speed only. My car finally failed VA inspection for no defrost. I never knew they checked that.

Why do you need to evac the a/c system when doing this job? I am planning on doing this job soon and plan to bypass the resistor pack and have full speed only. My car finally failed VA inspection for no defrost. I never knew they checked that.

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